ENCOUNTERS
When a party comes across monsters or NPCs, all encounter may occur. If the party attacks immediately, it may receive a bonus to its combat initiative. If the monsters surprise the party, the monsters call a Hack immediately and get a bonus to their combat initiative. If the monsters do not attack immediately, the party can react by choosing from an Encounter Menu. Encounter menus vary, listing options for each situation. Sample Encounter Menu COMBAT WAIT FLEE ADVANCE In this sample menu, you have opportunities to fight immediately, wait and see what happens, run away, or move forward. Combat In combat, the computer chooses the active character. Characters with higher dexterity tend to go before characters with lower dexterity. A character may hold his action until later with the DELAY command. A more detailed description of combat appears below, in the Combat section on page 19. The active character is centered on fine screen at the start of his combat segment. The active character's name, hit points, AC, and current weapon are displayed. The Combat Menu lists the character's options. Combat Menu AIM USE TURN GUARD QUICK DELAY BANDAGE VIEW SPEED END The arrow keys or mouse may be used to move a character to adjacent squares. While moving, the number of squares of available movement remaining is displayed, as are the options UNDO and DONE. UNDO returns the character to his original square, but leaves intact any damage suffered by the character during the canceled move. DONE concludes the character's movement and allows the selection of another option. The character may subsequently continue moving with any remaining movement allowance if no other option is selected. AIM allows weapons or spells to be targeted. When aiming a ranged weapon, the range to the target is displayed above the menu bar. If a character moves adjacent to an enemy, and has no more movement remaining, the AIM command can be used to attack with a melee weapon (sword, mace, etc.). The AIM command can also be used to survey the condition of your party and enemies. As you move the aim cursor over a character or monster, information about that opponent is displayed on the right of your screen. Use this technique to survey the battlefield. Aim Menu NEXT PREV MANUAL TARGET CENTER EXIT NEXT is used to look at all possible targets, starting with the closest target and then going to the next farthest, and so on. NEXT and PREV only indicate targets in the character's line of sight. PREV (Previous) is the opposite of the NEXT command. Use this command to look at the possible targets starting with the farthest target and working back toward the character. This command is most often used to select a target for a missile or magical attack. MANUAL permits the player to aim anywhere on the map. However, only targets in the character's line of sight can actually be fired upon. TARGET is used to fire a missile or spell at the enemy where the cursor is currently located. This command call also be used to attack art adjacent enemy with a melee weapon (sword, mace, etc.). if this command is not displayed, the target is out of range, not in line of sight, or invisible. CENTER centers the screen around the cursor. This is helpful when targeting manually. EXIT returns to the Combat Menu. USE allows a character to activate an item without having to go through the View Menu. Items such as scrolls and wands are then targeted with the Aim Menu. CAST is only available to spellcasters when they have spells available. The spellcaster selects from the list of available spells and then targets with the Aim Menu. If the character has been hit recently, his concentration may be broken, in which case the CAST command does not appear. TURN is a clerical power that attempts to destroy undead monsters or drive them away from the party. This may not affect the more powerful undead types, and has no effect on any other kind of monster. GUARD sets a character to stand and attack the first enemy that moves into an adja- cent square. GUARD is an option only if a character is armed with a melee weapon. QUICK turns control of the character over to the computer. Under computer control, a fighting character with a readied missile weapon tends to hang back and attack from a distance. If a character has no readied missile weapon, he readies a melee weapon and charges. Single class magic-users fire missile weapons and cast spells if magic is turned on (see your data card for details). They never rush into close combat, even if all of their missile attacks are expended. Consult your data card for instructions on regaining manual control and toggling magic on and off for your computer. DELAY causes the character to hold his turn until after the other characters and monsters have acted. BANDAGE gives first aid to a party member who is bleeding to death. BANDAGE stops the bleeding and keeps the character from losing more hit points. VIEW displays the character screen and View Menu. The USE command appears on the Items Menu to permit items such as wands to be used in combat. SPEED changes the game speed. It is described under the ALTER command in the Encamp Menu. END quits a character's turn. After Combat When combat is over, you see how many experience points each character receives, and then the Treasure Menu is displayed. Most of the Treasure Menu commands work like the commands in the Shop Menu. Treasure Menu VIEW TAKE POOL SHARE DETECT EXIT VIEW displays the character screen and View Menu. TAKE permits the active character to pick up treasure from defeated monsters. This only appears if the monsters had a treasure or the party has pooled its funds. A character carrying a large number of coins and heavy equipment may be slowed in combat. Take Menu ITEMS MONEY EXIT ITEMS lists the equipment in the treasure. Frequently, the weapons and armor used by monsters are not listed because they are poor quality and not worth taking. MONEY displays the number and type of coins, gems, and jewelry in the treasure. Indicate the type then number of items the active character takes. POOL places all of the party members' coins into the treasure. Use the TAKE or SHARE commands to pick up coins from the treasure. SHARE picks up the money treasure, divides it into shares, and distributes it among the party. DETECT has the active character cast a detect magic spell. Magic items in the treasure or party will be marked with an '*'. This command only appears if the active character has a detect magic spell available. EXIT leaves the scene of the battle. If any treasure remains, the option to return to the Treasure Menu is displayed. Game Manual CHARACTERS AND PARTIES